Always Feel Tired? It’s Probably Because Your Body Is Too Acidic / JENNY MARCHAL
Do you constantly feel tired and worn down? Do you find you need stimulants like coffee to get you through the morning or even generally throughout the day? Your first go-to solution may well be to get more sleep but what if you get your 8 hours a night and still feel fatigued when your alarm goes off?
The answer could be a condition that many people suffer from but are unaware of, and it’s called adrenal fatigue. It can be easily misdiagnosed by doctors due to the different ways it can manifest usually as general irritability, feelings of unhappiness and depression. In fact, it’s estimated that nearly 80% of people experience adrenal fatigue in their lifetime but never have it diagnosed.
Adrenal fatigue is caused by a number of things including prolonged stress that activates the adrenal glands that get overworked and consequently affecting the natural chemical balance within the body. However, there is one major cause that often gets overlooked and that’s the important pH levels within our blood.
How Does Blood pH Levels Cause Adrenal Fatigue?
Everyone has an ideal pH level for their blood and it sits around 7.35. A drop or increase can have a huge affect on how we function day-to-day so our bodies go to great lengths to keep the pH balance just right!
The main problem comes when the acid levels increase too much – this is called acidosis and can be caused by what you eat and drink. The red blood cells in your body happily move around transporting oxygen to each cell and to do this they need to have a negative charge in order to repel each other and keep separate.
This helps them move through tiny capillaries easily and efficiently but when there is too much acid present, it starts messing with this important negative charge resulting in blood not flowing easily and oxygen not being delivered to a consistent standard.
This also weakens the red blood cells meaning they can die off, which in turn produces more acid. The point of all this is that your energy levels decrease more and more over time, resulting in chronic fatigue that sleep just can’t solve.
How Does What You Eat Affect Your Blood pH Levels?
You’ll be surprised to know that it’s not always obvious foods and drinks that cause your pH levels to become acidic. There are many unassuming foods we put into our bodies that can have a bad affect on our blood so don’t think the acidic orange juice you drink is a direct cause. Here’s why.
Whatever we eat, the acid secreted into our stomachs that helps breakdown food is important. However, once digestion is over, it’s the residual acid or alkaline from the food that is passed into the blood. Foods and beverages such as coffee, alcohol and animal protein all leave an acidic residue that the body absorbs. Even some seafood such as scallops can be one of the most acidic foods you can eat – something you didn’t attribute your tiredness to!
What Ways Can I Increase My Alkaline pH Levels?
The most effective way to combat high acidic pH levels is to eat foods that are highly alkaline. It’s important to understand what kinds of foods and drinks provide the alkaline residue needed to lower acid levels. This doesn’t mean banning acidic foods altogether from your diet but gradually eliminating one or two types of food at a time to see how much of a difference it makes to your overall tiredness.
Learning the different pH levels of food is key to tweaking your diet.
- Food groups that increase acidity: meat and poultry (animal protein), fish, dairy, eggs, grains and alcohol.
- Foods that increase alkalinity levels: fruits, nuts, legumes and vegetables (plant proteins).
- Foods that have neutral pH levels: natural fats, starches and sugars.
Drinking plenty of water is crucial to help combat general fatigue – it works a bit like watering a wilting flower. Water is naturally neither acidic nor alkaline as it sits around 7.0 on the pH scale but there are ways to make your water more alkaline and these are adding baking soda to your water or even lemon juice (again seems counterintuitive but the acidic nature of lemons changes once in the body). Also, it might be worthwhile testing the pH value of your water using a simple litmus test to see where exactly it lies on the scale first.
When experiencing chronic fatigue, it’s important to visit your doctor to eliminate any serious conditions that could be causing it. Getting plenty of sleep and exercising regularly is always an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can help towards lessening any tiredness you experience.
However, if all other means of understanding your fatigue are literally exhausted, then start eliminating the acidic foods and introducing the more alkaline varieties to see if it makes a world of difference.
Acidic bodies are unhealthy bodies. When the body is overly acidic, it creates an unwanted environment where illness, bacteria, and yeast thrive. It also takes minerals from vital organs and bones to neutralize the acid and remove it from the body. Because of this, the body’s mineral reserves such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium can run dangerously low, causing damage that can go undetected for years until it reaches unhealthy levels and leads to acidosis.
SIGNS YOUR BODY IS TOO ACIDIC & HERE’S WHAT TO DO TO CORRECT IT / ELISHA MCFARLAND
Many people are already consuming enough acid forming foods, such as dairy, grains, meats, and sugar. Since the body is constantly generating acidic waste products from the metabolism, those waste products need to be neutralized or excreted in some way. In order to neutralize the constant acid generation, we need to supply the body with more alkaline foods.
Consider the health problems caused by mild acidosis (poor pH balance):
- Inflamed sensitive gums, cavities
- Immune deficiency
- Sciatica, lumbago, stiff neck
- Respiratory problems, shortness of breath, coughing
- Yeast fungal overgrowth
- Low energy and chronic fatigue
- Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels and reduction in oxygen
- Heart problems, arrhythmias, increased heart rate
- Weight gain, obesity, and diabetes
- Bladder and kidney infections
- Accelerated free radical damage
- Premature aging
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Osteoporosis, weak brittle bones, hip fractures, bone spurs
- Headaches, confusion, sleepiness
- Joint pain, aching muscles, and lactic acid buildup
- Allergies, acne
Start By Knowing Your pH
pH testing is important because it allows an individual to get a numeric representation of the current level of acidification in their body. A healthy average pH reading will range anywhere from 6.75 to 7.25. The optimal pH numeric reading is 7.36. To learn more about pH testing check references at end of article.
You Can’t Tell If Food Is Acidic Or Alkaline By Taste Alone
For example, many people think of lemons as acidic, and while they are classified as an acidic fruit, lemons are actually an alkaline forming food. During the process of digestion the acids are oxidized into carbon dioxide and water, therefore they do not create an acid condition in the system.
Calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and sodium are the main alkalizing minerals. Foods that are high in these minerals are considered alkaline forming foods. Most foods have both acid and alkaline minerals in them, so those with greater concentrations of acidic minerals are considered acidic and vice versa.
The Body Has Limits
The body has limits for how much it can compensate for acid imbalance. Therefore food intake plays a critical role in maintaining the acid-alkaline balance. Many diseases and general malaise are the result of the body’s attempt to rebalance the internal environment.
Generally speaking, if the diet includes too many acid forming foods, such as high amounts of meats, grains, dairy, and sugars, the body becomes more acidic. If you eat too many alkaline producing foods such as greens, fruits, and sea vegetables, the body can become too alkaline. Balance is key.
How To Improve Your Alkalinity
- Check your pH regularly
- Drink plenty of water (alkaline water when possible)
- Remove acidic foods
- Replace a traditional lunch with a large green salad
- Use lettuce leaves and collard greens as wraps
- Try not to consume processed foods
- Eliminate soda, sugars, and coffee, and replace them with herbal tea, herbal coffee, and green drinks
- Replace dairy milks with coconut or almond milk
- Add green juices or smoothies to your diet
What You Eat Matters
Improving pH levels may require a little more thought, but you’ll appreciate the rewards of your efforts as you begin to feel more energetic and vibrant and your overall health improves.
There is no question about it, what you eat has a direct impact on your overall health. It was Ann Wigmore, founder of the renowned Hippocrates Health Institute, who said, “The food you eat can be either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
Use the food charts below to make your lifestyle more alkaline and reap the benefits of vibrant health and abundant energy…
| FOOD CATEGORY | High Alkaline | Alkaline | Low Alkaline | Low Acid | Acid | High Acid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEANS, VEGETABLES, LEGUMES | Vegetable Juices, Parsley, Raw Spinach, Broccoli, Celery, Garlic, Barley Grass | Carrots, Green Beans, Lima Beans, Beets, Lettuce, Zucchini, Carob | Squash, Asparagus, Rhubarb, Fresh Corn, Mushrooms, Onions, Cabbage, Peas, Cauliflower, Turnip, Beetroot, Potato, Olives, Soybeans, Tofu | Sweet Potato, Cooked Spinach, Kidney Beans | Pinto Beans, Navy Beans | Pickled Vegetables |
| FRUIT | Dried Figs, Watermelon, Lemons | Dates, Blackcurrant, Grapes, Papaya, Kiwi, Berries, Apples, Pears | Coconut, Sour Cherries, Tomatos, Oranges, Cherries, Pineapple, Peaches, Avocados, Grapefruit, Mangoes, Strawberries, Papayas, Raisins, Limes | Blueberries, Cranberries, Bananas, Plums, Processed Fruit Juices | Canned Fruit | |
| GRAINS, CEREALS | Amaranth, Lentils, Sweetcorn, Wild Rice, Quinoa, Millet, Buckwheat | Rye Bread, Whole Grain Bread, Oats, Brown Rice | White Rice, White Bread, Pastries, Biscuits, Pasta | |||
| MEAT | Liver, Oysters, Organ Meat | Fish, Turkey, Chicken, Lamb | Beef, Pork, Veal, Shellfish, Canned Tuna & Sardines | |||
| EGGS & DAIRY | Breast Milk | Soy Cheese, Soy Milk, Goat Milk, Goat Cheese, Buttermilk, Whey | Whole Milk, Butter, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Cream, Ice Cream | Eggs, Camembert, Hard Cheese | Parmasan, Processed Cheese | |
| NUTS & SEEDS | Hazelnuts, Almonds | Chestnuts, Brazils, Coconut | Pumpkin, Sesame, Sunflower Seeds | Pecans, Cashews, Pistachios | Peanuts, Walnuts | |
| OILS | Flax Seed Oil, Olive Oil | Corn Oil, Sunflower Oil, Margarine, Lard | ||||
| BEVERAGES | Herb Teas, Lemon Water | Green Tea | Ginger Tea | Cocoa | Wine, Soda/Pop | Tea (black), Coffee, Beer, Liquor |
| SWEETENERS, CONDIMENTS | Stevia | Maple Syrup, Rice Syrup | Raw Honey, Raw Sugar | White Sugar, Processed Honey | Milk Chocolate, Brown Sugar, Molasses, Jam, Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Vinegar | Artificial Sweeteners |
Source: www.collective-evolution.com
SOURCES
http://www.myhealthmaven.com/diy/health-tests-at-home/understanding-ph/ (Understanding pH)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001181.htm (Acidosis)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195546/ (The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health?)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11842945 (Diet, evolution and aging–the pathophysiologic effects of the post-agricultural inversion of the potassium-to-sodium and base-to-chloride ratios in the human diet)
http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1995/pdf/1995-v10n0304-p177.pdf (Minerals and Disease; Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol. 10, No. 3 & 4, 1995; Joseph D. Campbell)
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